The Kings are still alive during a contest race that might return all the way down to the ultimate days of the regular season, however they're going to must traverse a slender path over the last twenty games to form their 1st postseason look since 2006.

Rookie center Harry Giles III hasn’t been within the NBA long, however he is aware of precisely what the Kings should do to finish the league’s longest contest drought:

“Win,” he said. “That’s it. confirm we have a tendency to win.”

Sacramento (31-31) was 3 games behind the metropolis Spurs for the eighth spot within the Western Conference going into weekday night’s game against the ny Knicks (13-50) at Golden one Center. The l.  a.   Clippers were a half-game earlier than the Spurs.

The Clippers (36-29) sweptwing the Kings within the season series and would hold a overtime advantage ought to they end with identical records, effectively effort state capital four 1/2 games back. several suspected the Clippers would bow out of the contest race when they listed Tobias Harris to the City of Brotherly Love 76ers — noting they need a lottery-protected first-round draft choose that may move to the capital of Massachusetts Celtics if they create the playoffs — however owner Steve Ballmer has reportedly created it clear he still needs his team to achieve the playoffs.

The Spurs (35-29) are a additional realistic target for the Kings at now. metropolis has lost seven of its last ten games, as well as a 127-112 loss in state capital on Gregorian calendar month. 4. The Kings have overwhelmed the Spurs double and can hold the overtime advantage irrespective of what happens in their final meeting March thirty one in metropolis, a game that looms massive on each teams’ schedules.

“These games are fun,” Kings guard friend Hield same. “They bring plenty of pressure, however it’s fun.”

The Kings, UN agency simply ended a rigorous portion of their schedule, have a chance to realize ground on the Spurs before they are going to metropolis. they're going to play fourteen games between currently and so, ten against groups with losing records and 2 against the troubled capital of Massachusetts Celtics, UN agency have lost seven of their last ten.

The Spurs can play twelve games before they face the Kings once more. That stretch can embody games against the Mile-High City Nuggets, metropolis usd, Portland path Blazers, American state Warriors, Houston Rockets and Celtics.

If the Kings go 10-4 and therefore the Spurs 6-6 resulting in their face-off in metropolis, each groups can come in the sport with 41-35 records.

“Twenty games left,” Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein same. “We’re stepping into our greatest basketball. We’re all setting out to work out however we should always end games. ... We’re talking concerning it. once you’re talking concerning it, it’s solely a matter of your time before it starts happening. That’s the most important factor for North American nation. We’re continued to be told and grow and staying with one another. That’s the key.”